I hope my lovely readers are enjoying THE HOTNESS (the final chapter is now the first on my blog, so you have to go back to the beginning to read it in sequence!). This is a bridging story between PRIDE & PRINCESSES and POPULAR (but I wrote P&P and POPULAR first). Readers familiar with Pride and Prejudice are going to recognize most of the characters in The Hotness. It's not too deep, just a little bit of fun posted as written on my blog. POPULAR is pretty special to me and I'm putting that up soon. I'd like to thank my amazing readers - because of you this blog is heading to sixty thousand views and I'm aiming towards a hundred thousand views as my goal. If you read and enjoy, please tell your friends about my blog:) lol Summer oooxxxooo. My Blog link: http://summerdaylight.blogspot.com/
I write stories like movies. Legally Blonde inspired me to finish law school but I dream of caramel lattes in the morning and travelling to amazing places in the afternoon. The teen fiction on my blog is inspired by the classics Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice. Tweeting @summerdaylight
Monday, August 12, 2013
THE HOTNESS by Summer Day is on my blog now!
I hope my lovely readers are enjoying THE HOTNESS (the final chapter is now the first on my blog, so you have to go back to the beginning to read it in sequence!). This is a bridging story between PRIDE & PRINCESSES and POPULAR (but I wrote P&P and POPULAR first). Readers familiar with Pride and Prejudice are going to recognize most of the characters in The Hotness. It's not too deep, just a little bit of fun posted as written on my blog. POPULAR is pretty special to me and I'm putting that up soon. I'd like to thank my amazing readers - because of you this blog is heading to sixty thousand views and I'm aiming towards a hundred thousand views as my goal. If you read and enjoy, please tell your friends about my blog:) lol Summer oooxxxooo. My Blog link: http://summerdaylight.blogspot.com/
Saturday, August 10, 2013
THE HOTNESS: A Modern Teen Pride and Prejudice (chapter fifty-nine: The Truth About Darcy Donovan)
Chapter
Fifty-nine
The
Real Truth About Darcy Donovan
After driving Paige home in silence, Darcy
was just trying to cover for the whole evening. He was mortified. He’d never
have taken Paige there if he’d known everyone was home. Blair was lovely but
beyond that, his extended family were an embarrassment to an outsider.
A joke.
That
night in her room, lying in her bubble bath exasperated - apart from anything
else there was no shower in the bathroom - Paige tried to distract herself from
reading over her debate notes.
Suddenly, the topics weren’t so important
anymore.
Paige
stopped hoping, stopped wondering that Darcy might even be the one. He was not
relationship material, he never had been, Paige told herself. Her feelings were
an illusion. She had no idea why they’d spent so many days together. The
evening had been a disaster. Besides, they’d never even kissed. How could she have
possibly imagined he liked her? How could he expect her to like him after all
those family insults? Paige was reading over her closing argument notes, when
the knock at her door came.
Paige
pulled on her robe and opened the door slightly.
Darcy Donovan was standing outside, bottle
of champagne in one hand bunch of pink flowers in the other.
“Hey, Paige.”
“Hi
Darcy.”
“I
wanted to apologize for my extended family. My Aussie family are slightly less…
pompous. My sister and I… we’re really, nothing like them. Do you forgive me…
again?”
Paige paused, surprised.
“Forgiven not forgotten… I suppose it was all
quite funny in the end.”
Darcy smiled.
“I thought you might like to join me in a
college tradition.”
Paige paused for a moment, not understanding
why she was so happy. Then she smiled, “Just a minute… I gotta… get dressed.”
Darcy waited outside.
He wore his favorite jeans and had a long,
dark cashmere overcoat because the weather, even in summer, was chilly at midnight.
They’d been teamed up against each other. For once he didn’t want to win if it
meant Paige would lose. He told himself to snap out of it. That maybe this is
what love is. If the winning prize was a trip to Sydney next year, he wanted
her to be the one to win it.
He didn’t know what would happen tomorrow,
but he was going to make an attempt to celebrate tonight. He’d waited so long
to impress Paige and although he didn’t expect anything from her, he needed to
know… everything. He thought of all the
ways Paige had influenced him as he stood there in the landing. Well, she
hadn’t exactly changed him, but her attitudes about certain things had rubbed
off on him.
For example, he stopped and talked with and
bought lunch for, a homeless person when he was shopping in Chelsea recently.
He may not have thought about doing that before he met Paige. He may not have
even noticed the homeless person was a human being. He remembered Paige saying
in debate class, “we are all a reflection of the way we treat society’s weakest
and most vulnerable.” Deluded members of his own family had taught him that the
weakest and most vulnerable had probably done something wrong to deserve their
situation but Darcy knew this attitude was wrong. All human beings were just
one step away from misfortune… or fortune. It was just a trick of his birth
that he’d been born with so much money and he had an obligation to do the right
thing. He’d found his conscience because of Paige.
When he was interning at his uncle’s law
firm, he had more compassion for the disadvantaged people he met and even
advised his uncle that they should take more pro bono cases and his uncle
agreed.
So, Paige could never know how much he
meant to her, how much she had changed him – unless he told her. But, he didn’t
want to be rejected, he didn’t’ know what he’d do if that happened. He’d have
to wait until the right moment. He couldn’t believe he was even contemplating…
and he knew they were both young, but he didn’t care. He loved Paige. They’d
hardly touched but he knew how he felt. He just hoped she hadn’t taken what his
grandfather said to heart. There was no way he ever wanted to marry for money.
He felt the hotness; the appeal of a girl
who didn’t even know she was the one. And for once, he knew the hotness wasn’t
all about him – it was mostly about her. That’s why he’d arranged, long ago for
her little sisters youtube footage to be extinguished, for Rys to keep his
distance and bad influence from them. Why he’d also arranged for Ryan (who was mysteriously
missing in action) to have left England yesterday on a plane, bound for LA, to
meet up with Shiloh at the restaurant… right about now and declare his true
love.
Paige was the best, most amazing, most
wonderful girl he’d ever met. There was nothing he would not do for her or to
please her.
Moments later, Paige appeared.
She was wearing her summer coat and
carried a blue college scarf.
“Okay, so where are we going?”
“To
the rooftop. I have some plans for us, c’mon.”
Paige
followed Darcy in the dark. He’d placed tea lights in a trail, flickering like
presents in the night air.
She
realized there were few, if any, people she’d follow anywhere. She placed her
trust in Darcy, and she’d only spent a few days getting to know him as an
adult, but he was so changed from the arrogant teenager he’d been. Paige would
almost describe him as humble. Hot, but humble.
He reached out and grabbed her hand as they
walked up the stairs and Paige felt thrilled. This was the one, she was sure of
it. He was so cool, so Aussie, so hot.
“This way…”
Up
they climbed to the rooftop.
Darcy took Paige up a hidden staircase,
higher and higher, they wound faster and faster up until they reached the roof
of the college.
“Look,
You can see the world from here.”
“Wow,
it’s amazing. It really looks like a fairy tale.”
Darcy laughed.
“It’s
different, it’s nothing like where I really come from.”
“What do you mean?”
“The sun in Australia is so strong, it makes
an incredible sunset. I’d… I’d like to show it to you one day... because I love
you.”
“I’d like to see it,” Paige said, hardly
believing what she heard. Paige smiled. She loved him too. It was so obvious,
from the start, wasn’t it?
Darcy brushed her hair away from her face
and leant in towards her.
They kissed and it was perfect; they made
out and it was even better.
And then…
Honey: Do you think they did it?
Wednesday: I don’t know, Paige never
told me… the scene just ‘faded to the stars’ and all of that…. But perhaps
we’ll find out and write about it in Popular… and then again, maybe we won’t
because when Popular starts (a few years later) I’m filming my television
series and there is so much happening in your life, Honey, that we get caught
up in the drama and forget about the hotness and when we first met Darcy Donovan and Paige Bennet…
Honey: But didn’t you… I mean, in
another sequel… in the final part of the Sunrise trilogy, didn’t you get to meet Darcy at UCLA Where he’s
studying film directing as a graduate student and you are an acting major? And
don’tcha think that maybe, at the end of the day, they were too young to make a
commitment, so then maybe Darcy was available a few years later and you and he… when you’re
older… get a chance to be together?
Wednesday: In his dreams. Are you
joking? Oh, please. I have so many suitors by the time I’m a famous actress that
I barely gave him a second thought beyond freshman year, but… Well, of course,
don’t tell our readers all of that stuff yet…
Honey: Sure, well, the truth is I
have no real proof either way of whether they did it that night… but let’s
leave them together in one of the most picturesque places in the world…
Wednesday: Of course, our readers
would never forgive us for not giving them their happiness. So, Paige and Darcy were macking all over one
another…
Honey: Like… ‘Atonement’ without the tragedy.
Wednesday: So true. True love . Real
love. Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet type love or Edward Cullen and Bella Swan
type love or…
Honey: Or Sookie Stackhouse and her hundred plus
year old soldier boy love… But, let me just say, before they dated a while, before Ryan married Shiloh and Darcy married
Paige (even though Paige won her final debate ), before they live happily ever
after, I happen to know they sealed the deal.
Wednesday: Are you sure?
Honey: Of course I’m sure. I saw the
film didn’t I? You know, Darcy’s graduate film which was all about two
opposites meeting at high school and then finding romance at Oxford… At least
that’s what I heard Paige telling Shiloh who told Coco who told Melody who told
Mackenzie who told me.
Honey: So in the end, which was just
the beginning…
Wednesday: of their story…
Honey & Wednesday: (which became
our story)
Honey: They found true love.
Wednesday: The end… now go read
Popular (it’s even better than Pride & Princesses).
Until then...
THE HOTNESS: A Modern Teen Pride and Prejudice (chapter fifty-eight: space cadets)
Chapter
Fifty-eight
Space
Cadets
Paige wondered what planet he was on, but
made excuses on account of his age.
Was
it her imagination or did Lord Darcy actually pat her knee under the table as
he slurped his Eton Mess pudding?
“Pass the cream, dear,” was all he said as
he licked his lips.
This was like a horror film.
It got worse, then Mackenzie arrived and sat
in the seat on the other side of Paige.
“Hey Paige, what a surprise.” Mackenzie
leant in, “I got therapy, found myself in Mexico,” she said, “I’m not saying it
fixed me but I’m better than I used to be, not nearly so jealous since I’ve
owned myself. By the way, my modeling career is going well…” Mackenzie talked on as Paige inched towards
her and away from Lord Donovan who’d started snoring at the table.
After
dessert was served (or ‘pudding’ as it was called in England) they all (Darcy,
Blair, Mackenzie and Ryan – who’d just
arrived to pick them all up and go back to town), burst into fits of giggles.
“Paige, Blair tells me you play piano,” Lady
Donovan gestured towards the grand piano in the corner of the dining room.
“Let’s see how good you are.”
“Oh, I haven’t played keyboards for a long
time.”
“Well, that’s not what Darcy said. He said
he loved hearing you play when you both went to school in LA,” Blair said.
“Yes, play Paige,” Ryan added.
“Oh play,” Mackenzie agreed, “anything to drown
out the snoring,” she added under her breath. Paige got up tentatively and
walked over to the corner, sat down and played. She played an acoustic version
of a pop song her youngest sister, Rebel liked.
Then Blair reluctantly got up at her great-aunt’s
urging and smiled as she sang along to Paige’s fairly hesitant playing. All the
while Darcy Donovan lent in the corner and worried about the effect his
difficult family would have on Paige. The music, to informed ears, was tuneful
but average, but to Darcy’s ears it was perfect.
“That’s how music sounds when the one you like
performs it, even if it is out of tune and harsh, it is a welcome sound.” Blair
assured him afterwards.
Lady Donovan noticed Darcy’s look. It was
admiring. At first she thought he was merely paying attention to the girl, so
as not to hurt his sister’s feelings but then Lady Donovan noticed his gaze
rested firmly on Paige Bennet. Lady Donovan knew she needn’t consult the
family’s ancestry specialist. Paige Bennet was not part of their society. She
wasn’t upper class or middle class… she wasn’t even English. She was American.
Lady Donovan did not want her grandson
going all the way to America – Australia was bad enough – but they had links
there, that in itself was a worry to Lady Donovan who was becoming slightly
hysterical at the thought that Pemberly could one day be taken over by Miss
Paige Bennet. After all, who was her father? Who were her family and relatives?
Of course, many would think this form of social snobbery no longer existed in
this day and age but it was alive and well in the Donovan family.
When the girls finished playing their song,
Lady Donovan spoke up.
“That was lovely Blair. Paige, you are right,
you are not a musician to my ear.”
Ah,
that’s what I tried to tell you, Paige thought, instead, giving way to age
over beauty, Paige smiled. She’d be out of the house soon enough and if Shiloh
were here, she’d never make a fuss.
Darcy looked over at Paige, horrified by his
great-aunt’s rudeness.
“Paige doesn’t want to be a musician, Aunt.
Paige is going to study International Relations and maybe go to Law School...”
“If I get in,” Paige said.
“You will, I’m sure of it,” Darcy replied.
“I’d like to work in human rights and be an
advocate for the disadvantaged.”
“Oh, you have a lot of those in America do
you?”
“No
more so than here, Lady Donovan, if the streets of London are anything to go
by,” Paige answered quickly.
Paige had decided to fight fire with fire.
Blair and Mackenzie were enjoying this.
“Aunt, London is not like Oxfordshire and
your country estate,” Darcy assured his out of touch great-aunt.
Lady
Donovan scrunched up her nose and rang the bell for tea.
“I suppose you would like coffee, Paige,
that’s very American, isn’t it?”
“Tea will be fine, Lady Donovan.”
Lady Donovan raised her eyebrow and when the
servant was slow to arrive said, “Oh well, I’ll go and find the maid, now where
is she?”
Ryan grabbed his car keys.
“Don’t you think we’ve had enough, Darcy?
It’s almost nine?”
“Of course,” Darcy grabbed everyone’s coats.
“Let’s get out of here.”
Darcy’s great uncle had the final say of the
night.
He spoke as if Paige had already left, as if
the evening hadn’t gone badly enough.
“Good pair of hips on that girl, Darcy. Good
for breeding. Have you found out if she’s interested in marrying you yet? You
know, no point in having an estate if you remain a bachelor…”
Darcy wondered what planet he was on.
Blair started laughing out loud but Darcy froze.
Paige also froze as she collected her coat.
It was impossible to pretend she hadn’t heard.
When they arrived back at the college, Paige
spoke first.
“Is that true, what your uncle said?”
“It is, sort of. He’s kind of… touched… in the
head. I take no notice. I intend to make my own way in the world and not be
reliant on any of my relatives.”
“Oh,” Paige said.
“Great gene pool, huh?”
“I’m not sure your family would ever accept an
outsider.”
“My great-aunt already has someone lined up
for me to marry, but it’s kind of a joke because, well, my sister and I have
decided we don’t care if our relatives don’t leave us the houses and the businesses.
I mean, there is no way my sister is ready to marry anyone… and neither am I.”
“Oh,”
Paige said. It was pretty clear Darcy had run hot, then cold. Suddenly the
whole estate didn’t seem so beautiful anymore.
THE HOTNESS: A Modern Teen Pride and Prejudice (chapter fifty-seven: interrogation nation)
Chapter
Fifty-seven
Interrogation
Nation
Before dinner, Darcy’s great-aunt came into
the drawing room to introduce herself to Paige.
“How do you do?” she asked rather formally,
looking Paige up and down. “Where are you from dear?”
“America, Los Angeles.”
“Oh, really?” She looked at Darcy
distastefully. He suddenly knew introducing Paige to his great-aunt so early on
– before Paige was officially his girlfriend, was probably a mistake.
“Well,
we’re really hoping Darcy ends up back in Australia with the other half or
stays here after he’s finished all of this study nonsense. Wouldn’t happen if
he married an American now would it?”
Paige noted she said the word ‘American’ as
if it were an infection of some sort. Paige felt like she had to defend
herself, “Ah… really, we’re just friends.”
“Yes, well, he always liked Mackenzie at
school but I’m hoping he’ll warm to my Mariah when he meets her.” Lady Donovan
leaned in with a whisper, “So, I’d keep my hands off him if I were you. It’ll
only end in tears.”
Paige didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“Actually, we just ran into each other in
town… I’m here for my college debate final.”
“Oh…” Darcy’s great-aunt peered at Paige,
“Friends as well as lovers, then. Well, I’d keep my claws off him all the same.”
Darcy had started fidgeting in the corner
of the room, apparently he hadn’t heard what his great-aunt said. As he wandered
over, his great-aunt started smiling again, pretending to be nice.
Thankfully, he hadn’t heard his great-aunt’s
most recent insult or it would have been all out war. The pale look on Paige’s
face said it all. He should never have left her alone with his great aunt and
if she was this bad, imagine how much worse his great uncle (Darcy was his sole
heir) might be.
“At least he’s back from Australia,” (she
pronounced it Orst-ralia), “fearfully hot place, full of colonials and the
Irish, well, I suppose it takes all sorts to make a world…”
Paige heard a cough in the corner of the
room and noticed Darcy’s great-uncle in the corner hunched over an atlas.
“This is going to be fun,” Paige thought
sarcastically as the dinner party walked into the dining room and Lady Donovan
talked up the value of her creepy antiques.
Paige couldn’t wait to get home to text her
sister.
When it came to dinner, Lady Donovan had the
table placements pre-arranged.
“No no, Darcy, you sit here,” Lady Donovan
patted the seat beside her. Paige was placed at the other end of the table near
Lord Donovan who had not yet spoken. Let’s just say, Paige’s first meal at an
English country mansion was something to remember – and not in a good way.
Finally when pudding was served, or did
she imagine it, Lord Donovan looked up from his newspaper and spoke, “nice day
for hunting then?”
THE HOTNESS: A Modern Teen Pride and Prejudice (chapter fifty-six: meeting Darcy's family)
Chapter
Fifty-six
Meeting
Darcy’s family
Darcy
and Paige had seen each other every day since they’d reconnected. On this
particular day, Darcy, Paige and Blair decided to have brunch together. They
unpacked the picnic basket, laden with food, in the meadow near the Donovan
estate.
“It’s been great to meet you, Paige. Before
we met, my brother described you as the most talented, clever and prettiest
girl he’s ever met.”
Paige blushed and looked confused.
“Obviously, he exaggerated.”
Blair smiled, “My brother never
exaggerates.”
Darcy looked embarrassed as his sister
continued, “Great aunt Donovan is way too strict, but it’s going to be great
now that Darcy has given me an excuse to escape. Hey, you guys have to come see
my band – we’re playing in town. We just started it. Jethro – we met in a
coffee shop in town - well, he’s the guitarist. You have to meet him.”
Blair started to pack up after they’d
finished eating then dragged Paige towards the stables.
Jethro, who looked about sixteen, was making
sure the horses were fed and looked up and waved as Blair spoke.
“He looks nice.”
“Just nice?”
“Also cute,” Paige added.
“What do you think of my brother? I’ve
decided, you both make the perfect couple.”
“Wow, I wasn’t expecting you to be so…
subtle, Blair,” Paige laughed. “I mean, we’ve only just reconnected but… I like
him more than I ever thought I would. He’s… he’s amazing.”
“I know,” Blair said, “for a brother.”
Paige was taken aback and didn’t’ know what
to say as they spread the blankets out, a view of the Donovan estate surrounding
them
“In the beginning, I’m sure he’s told you,
we weren’t even friends. We really hated each other…”
“Mmm… well, he told me all about you. How
you were the smartest girl he’d ever met and how much he admired you. It took
him ages to stop talking about you once we got back to Sydney.”
“Ah yes, but he did stop.”
“Well,
everyone stops at some time. Without any encouragement it’s impossible to
continue. You should know, I don’t give my approval lightly,” Blair joked, “but
my brother is the best person I know. He really is. Ryan and his friends will
tell you he’s a player but that’s only because he hasn’t met the right girl…
until now.”
Blair looked straight at Paige and smiled as
she threw some flat rocks across the pond.
“Do you play any instruments, Paige?”
“Oh, keyboard, just a bit.”
“You should come to our practice up at the
house this afternoon.”
“Well, I have debate finals tomorrow. The two
winning teams win a prize for themselves and their university… another overseas
trip to wherever the finals are held next year, I suppose. Rumor has it, it’s
Sydney, Australia.”
“Good,” Blair said, “But you have to eat so
you and Darcy are staying for dinner. It’s so boring with just family, even
though I love them all of course. The only thing they have to talk about is me
and my scandalous career in music and if I’m eating well or if I’m depressed,
you can imagine.”
“Sort of,” Paige said.
“Good. Soon you have to meet the relatives.
Darcy can’t keep putting it off forever. Somehow he’s managed to avoid them,
until now.”
After lunch, which was delicious, the sky
covered over.
Instead of going swimming in the lake the
group decided to go back to the house. Once there, they dried off and Paige was
waiting in the library when Darcy came in drying his hair. He took Paige’s
hands.
“I hope you can stay for dinner. I have to
warn you, though. Ryan and Mackenzie said they have nothing planned this
weekend, so Aunt invited them… but I think you’ll find Mackenzie has changed
quite a lot over the previous two years… and we could always leave early. My
family are going to be… insulted though, if we don’t make an effort.”
Paige paused then said, “I better brush up
on my manners.” .
“Don’t be stupid. They’ll need to brush up on
theirs. I should warn you, they are all a bit… cray cray.”
Darcy smiled, “Apart from that, thank you for
giving me a chance to impress you again,” he smiled.
Is that what she was doing? Paige hardly
knew her own mind when she was around Darcy. His world was both weird and
intoxicating.
THE HOTNESS: A Modern Teen Pride and Prejudice (chapter fifty-five: The beginning of how it all went down)
Chapter
Fifty-five
The
Beginning of how it all went down
We (me and Wednesday) have wondered
how to tell the next part of the story… the beginning of the end, so to speak.
There were many dates, debates, conversations and interactions over that
fortnight but we’ve decided to leave most of them out and focus on the romance…
The next part is an account of the
events that took place in England during
that week of summer when the final debate was drawing near. It all went down
when Darcy and Paige were (obviously) loving on
each other and when Paige had finally
realized Darcy wasn’t quite the person she’d been led to believe, but so
much more.
*Again, Paige Bennet told us all about the
story upon her return to the USofA… but you still have to suspend disbelief as
we take you into this other world – this world of another country a whole other
‘class system’ and some seriously weird friends & relatives…
THE HOTNESS: A Modern Teen Pride and Prejudice (chapter fifty-four: At the mansion)
Chapter
Fifty-four
At
the mansion
Darcy drove leisurely down the country lane
ways and Paige was shocked when he pulled into a long driveway with wrought
iron gates and the Donovan family crest on the front. The centuries-old Donovan
mansion, standing majestically amidst acres of well-kept gardens, was more than
impressive.
“Wow,” Paige said.
Darcy pulled over, parked the car and walked
around to open the door for her.
“Do you like it?”
“Wow… um, yes,” Paige added (sounding and
feeling very American), “Are you trying to impress me?”
“Of course.”
Darcy stopped smiling when he noticed all
the cars parked around the side of the Donovan mansion.
He grimaced.
“I’d forgotten with all the… excitement.
Brunch. I was just coming here to show you around, was sure my great-aunt and
everyone else was in London for the day.”
Darcy checked his text.
He looked dismayed.
“They changed their minds. They’re expecting
me for brunch.” Darcy raised his eyebrow and paused a moment. “Do you mind? My great-aunt
is a real snob.”
Paige shrugged, annoyed that he was
ditching her. This was the final chance he’d ever get… “I suppose I could… call
a taxi.”
“Are you kidding? I want you to come with
me. It should only take an hour or two… then we could go back to the village
and hang out…”
Paige
half-smiled.
“Okay, but is there a train station nearby?
Cos if they’re mean to me, I’m out of here.”
Darcy laughed as they walked inside.
“I’ll do my best to protect you.”
As Paige and Darcy were entering the house,
a young girl in a riding outfit came running down the stairs, a few years
younger than Darcy.
“Darcy! Darcy! I’m so glad you are here. Great
aunt Donovan gave up on you coming and has taken everyone to the Bingley’s for
tea.” (Ryan’s family had rented the
mansion nearby). Paige breathed a sigh of relief.
Blair stopped at the front door and smiled.
“Oh, you must be Paige. Take me with you
both, I have my boots on… she leaned in… great-aunt is trying to take me with
her. When she returns she wants me to help sort her art collection. Arghh! Save me!”
Darcy laughed. “Never mind, it’s only a few
days before we get to go home,” he whispered.
Blair breathed a sigh of relief, audibly.
They bundled the extra food Blair had
packed, into a basket, including a blanket and walked over to the stables,
where some horses were already saddled.
A teenage boy named Jethro was the summer
groom and already he and Blair had become friends. You could tell by the way
they smiled at each other. Blair talked on and Darcy couldn’t get over how much
happier his younger sister seemed. When Blair and Jethro went riding, Darcy
suggested he and Paige eat lunch in the adjoining meadows where there was a good
place to sit by the lake.
And so, their true romance began.
THE HOTNESS: A Modern Teen Pride and Prejudice (chapter fifty-three: Darcy's relatives)
Chapter
Fifty-three
Darcy’s
relatives
As it happened, the Australian friends and connections
of the Donovan family were all paying court to Darcy’s relatives that week.
Even Mackenzie Bingley was in town to visit her brother.
Mackenzie now considered herself a human
rights activist. She justified her modeling as a stepping stone towards ‘showing
face’, ‘widening her profile’ and ultimately creating her own charity to help
disadvantaged women the world over. On her profile page she wrote: Mackenzie
Bingley activist, feminist, model. Her
family considered this just another of Mackenzie’s ‘fads’ and her father even
found her ‘amusing,’ which was good for Mackenzie since he bankrolled most of
her adventures.
Ryan had flown over for the fortnight
before continuing his ‘gap year’ around Europe and Asia. Mackenzie, who had
delusions of being gainfully employed as a model announced that her American
agent suggested she might have more of a ‘London Editorial Look.’ Besides, she
wanted to catch up with Blair – and Darcy.
Mackenzie had taken her new look to
extremes. Gone was the Valley girl throwback. Mackenzie had punk style and wore
extremely dark eyeliner. She looked bored all the time. She was bored all the time. Mackenzie was so
over the facile world she and her brother currently inhabited.
As they sat in the drawing room of Lady
Donovan’s Georgian mansion, at the request of Lady Donovan who had known the
Bingley’s since they were children, Ryan had to agree with her that he missed
his family and all that was familiar. At least they still had their best
friends – Darcy and Blair.
Blair was hovering by the piano. She’d
been doing an internship with a record company in London and would also be
staying for the weekend.
Blair had been unexpectedly trying to
contact her brother all morning. He still hadn’t returned her calls.
Working in the music industry was Blair’s
dream and Darcy was relieved she wouldn’t be so directionless when she finally
got back to school. Blair had her brother to thank for the internship. Darcy
had suggested it to Ryan, who had suggested Blair to his parents, who owned the
London studio.
While they all had morning tea and awaited
news of Darcy, his great-aunt, Lady Donovan, was wondering how to set Darcy up
with a future wife. Mackenzie, (who dressed in formal attire for this morning
tea and was on her best behavior) seemed like just the right sort of girl to
her. From the same part of the world – and from a ‘good’ family (the Donovan
family came from very snobbish lineage of which Lady Donovan was most proud).
Lady Donovan smiled. Darcy had always been her favorite grandchild – even if
he’d apparently forgotten the brunch he’d assured her he would attend. In any
case, Lady Donovan was keen that her husband’s bizarre eccentricities would not
hinder Darcy’s ascent to a title and one day becoming Lord of Oxfordshire.
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